One week baby, stocking up on the drugs, drinks and condoms

[Edited on November 3, 2011 at 9:59 PM. Reason : x]

11/3/2011 9:57:59 PM

I've never played any of the Elder Scrolls games.

Can someone give me a crash course on the series and any useful information I should know playing one of these for the first time?

11/4/2011 9:56:47 AM

^ http://uesp.net/wiki/General:Elder_Scrolls

11/4/2011 10:07:12 AM

Oblivion was really fun to play and explore. Skyrim should be even better

11/4/2011 11:53:32 AM

Oblivion was the reason I got into building computers. My college laptop in 2004 was a Dell Pentium 4 with a 1920 by 1200 15" screen and an ATI Radeon 9800 pro with 128MB of memory. Oblivion tore it a new one (especially at 1920 by 1200) and this prompted me to build my first computer in 2006.

11/4/2011 11:58:48 AM

11/4/2011 6:45:07 PM

I remember when the 9800 Pro was top of the line...good times...

11/4/2011 7:27:55 PM

shit i remember oogling twin voodoo 2 12mb for SLI awesomeness

once i become a millionaire im going to pick up a voodoo 5 6000

11/5/2011 4:52:25 PM

When can I pre-load my steam purchase?

11/9/2011 7:52:07 AM

^You can now.

11/9/2011 9:49:20 AM

Quote :

"FRIDAY FRIDAY FRIDAY"

11/9/2011 10:25:24 AM

How the fuck am I supposed to find enough time for this, MW3, and to go to work????

11/9/2011 12:49:55 PM

infinite quests - the game keeps spawning new quests for you as you go through it based on what you need?

oh fuck, you guys are never gonna break free from this one...good fucking luck.

11/9/2011 1:13:55 PM

ok so i have never played oblivion or any game like this that wasn't also an mmo.

i keep hearing about the vastness and the openness so can someone maybe bullet point out for me some examples of things you expect youd be able to do, for instance:

are you able to just hunt dragons all day if thats what you want or are these one time boss type quests?
i guess i dont quite see the openness (as opposed to just being a very large map) part in any of the trailers...i just watched this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0fBRqnUEKM

11/9/2011 1:31:42 PM

From what I read, dragons will be rare, but not all will pre-scripted quest events. They roam the world on their own AI, for the most part.

I don't think that you'll be able to be a full-time dragon hunter just because of how few there will be but I bet you could be a full time wolf hunter.

What's the difference between "openness" and "a very large map" anyway? Oblivion's (and Skyrim to a greater extent) draw was that you didn't have to just stick to the main quest. You could find someone who needs something pretty much anywhere and the level of detail in everything makes you feel like you are actually in the world.

[Edited on November 9, 2011 at 1:55 PM. Reason : .]

11/9/2011 1:53:31 PM

Things you can expect to be able to do:
-Explore hundreds of caves, dungeons, and ruins for treasure and adventure.
-Go on hundreds of dynamic quests.
-Join guilds and advance in ranks.
-Roam through a huge open world from impressive cities to huge mountains.
-Complete the main quest in your own time, or not even bother with it if you don't want to and just play in the epic sandbox.

I don't know whether you can actually hunt dragons or if they just show up, but they are dynamic and mostly non-scriptied. Don't know if they are unlimited but there are going to be plenty of them.

I don't know what you mean by not seeing the openness. It's an open world game with a large map and no loading screens (besides possibly entering large cities, those had loading screens in oblivion.

^ I've head the opposite, that dragons are not rare.

[Edited on November 9, 2011 at 1:56 PM. Reason : ]

11/9/2011 1:55:35 PM

You know you're right, I'm not sure where I got that from.

god damn I can't wait.

11/9/2011 1:57:51 PM

well i guess when i hear openness that it is meant in terms of gameplay, not world loading or design

i mean at any point am i creating my own gameplay or is there just a ton of stuff already designed to do?

11/9/2011 1:59:47 PM

Quote :

"infinite quests - the game keeps spawning new quests for you as you go through it based on what you need?"

I'm sure it won't be too much of a factor. If they just spawn fetch quests and go here, kill x quests I'd probably do a couple then fail to see the point in doing any more.

^^^^^As far as Oblivion was concerned you could free roam, do whatever you wanted, and take the story at your own pace. It was kinda pointless though, since enemies scaled to your level. There was no point in level grinding to later come back to a story mission much stronger than before. IIRC I think I read something about Skyrim here that suggested that there were zones where enemies in a particular zone were in a range of levels. That way you could actually have moments where you accidentally wander into a cave or something where the enemies are really tough or go to places where you mop up everything with ease. I'd prefer that any day.

[Edited on November 9, 2011 at 2:01 PM. Reason : -]

11/9/2011 2:01:30 PM

It was the same in Fallout 3, and I'm pretty sure I heard Todd Howard confirm they were using the Fallout 3 model. Level range affected by your level.

Of course, if you can get the PC version you can get a mod to make it pretty much however you want. I know there were many many mods to adjust the bad guy level in Oblivion.

On an unrelated note, I'm bummed that it's not using Games for Windows Live. I don't know what problem people had with that. It was nice to get achievement points and be able to chat with Live friends while playing Fallout 3.

[Edited on November 9, 2011 at 2:15 PM. Reason : .]

11/9/2011 2:13:40 PM

Why don't you just get it for Steam and you can still do that stuff?

Quote :

"well i guess when i hear openness that it is meant in terms of gameplay, not world loading or design i mean at any point am i creating my own gameplay or is there just a ton of stuff already designed to do?"

Well yes to both, there's gonna be a lot of stuff to do but you can also do your own thing if you want. If you just do the main quest the game will probably take you under 15 hours, if you do some of the main side quests you'll probably be playing a single character for 30-40 hours, and if you just explore and screw around you'll be able to play a single guy for 100+ hours.

Think GTA but with more quests and leveling and less driving.

[Edited on November 9, 2011 at 4:04 PM. Reason : ]

11/9/2011 4:00:55 PM

I get MS Achievements and can chat with Xbox Live friends on Steam?

11/9/2011 4:02:14 PM

What's the difference between MS Achievements and Steam Achievements?

11/9/2011 4:04:54 PM

Best part of these games are the factions (Dark Brotherhood, Thieves Guild, etc) Each has a meaty quest line that rivals the entire campaign of lesser games.

11/9/2011 4:08:57 PM

Quote :

"What's the difference between MS Achievements and Steam Achievements?"

The points go to my gamerscore along with all my other 360 and "Games for Windows Live".

Aggregating your achievements is the point of Achievements. I'm not saying I'll never buy a Steam game (I have quite a few) but it was nice to have the Xbox 360 integration.

Quote :

"Best part of these games are the factions (Dark Brotherhood, Thieves Guild, etc) Each has a meaty quest line that rivals the entire campaign of lesser games. "

I'm getting tempted to download Daggerfall and relive my Mages Guild awesomeness from '95.

[Edited on November 9, 2011 at 4:22 PM. Reason : .]

11/9/2011 4:21:21 PM

I wonder if you'll be able to build a suit of armor which gives you 100% chameleon again.

The game goes so much faster at that point.

11/9/2011 8:35:38 PM

Ugh, Daggerfall's controls have not aged gracefully...think I'll just wait 2 days.

11/9/2011 9:52:05 PM

Nah I doubt Chameleon will do the same thing this time.

11/9/2011 9:58:48 PM

My goal in this game is the same as the last two.

Get Jump as high as possible, play matrix music in my head, and confuse the AI.

..then cry as everything in Oblivion gets meaner

11/10/2011 12:18:36 AM

Acrobatics is gone

11/10/2011 7:36:27 AM

Game Pre-Loaded via Steam, Vacation Day tomorrow, Frozen Pizzas and Dr Pepper.

Engage.

11/10/2011 8:22:54 AM

i won't get to play this until next weekend

11/10/2011 8:28:26 AM

I should have taken tomorrow off! Too much work.

11/10/2011 9:03:50 AM

If you're using steam, you can change your IP adress to Austrailia and can play right now.

I'm not going to do it myself but just FYI.

11/10/2011 9:19:17 AM

^ Wait, what?

11/10/2011 9:23:15 AM

There are sites that let you change your IP address to a different country. I can't access them now because they are blocked at work.

Steam releases the game at midnight in whatever country you're in, it's not a simultaneous release like they sometimes have.

11/10/2011 9:25:16 AM

So I use a site to trick steam into believing I'm in aussieland, then at the steam runtime, it's fooled, and I can play tonight?

11/10/2011 9:31:24 AM

Crikey, this ones a genius!

11/10/2011 9:32:12 AM

^ Thanks friend, I value your feedback immensely, as you can distinguish both excitement and sarcasm over the internet.

After a quick google

Confirmed:

http://www.vpnsecure.me/servers/australia-vpn/

$2 dollar trial that people are using it in masses on reddit, anything else probably has warez.

1. Buy/preload skyrim on Steam normally from US account,
2. Connect into VPN > Run Steam Via VPN > Unlock Skyrim > Restart Steam in Offline Mode > Disconnect VPN > Play Now.

[Edited on November 10, 2011 at 9:50 AM. Reason : -]

11/10/2011 9:48:00 AM

You guys are ridiculous. You really can't wait a day? Delay of gratification?

11/10/2011 9:50:04 AM

Quote :

"Game Pre-Loaded via Steam, Vacation Day tomorrow, Frozen Pizzas and Dr Pepper."

Shouldn't that be Shasta... and an all Rush mix tape.

11/10/2011 9:54:32 AM

I can wait, but 2 dollars is nothing. For me it was more about figuring how to do it more than anything else.

11/10/2011 9:55:41 AM

http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2011/11/skyrim-review/

shiiiietttttt 10 stars on wired.

11/10/2011 10:19:30 AM

Quote :

"NEXT LEVEL SHIT"

11/10/2011 10:32:52 AM

Quote :

"Shouldn't that be Shasta... and an all Rush mix tape."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7DFsBcVMDA

11/10/2011 10:36:20 AM

10/10 on 11-11-11

11/10/2011 10:46:43 AM

DAMMIT NOW I HAVE TOM SAWYER STUCK IN MY HEAD!

11/10/2011 10:52:54 AM

Quote :

"IIRC I think I read something about Skyrim here that suggested that there were zones where enemies in a particular zone were in a range of levels. That way you could actually have moments where you accidentally wander into a cave or something where the enemies are really tough or go to places where you mop up everything with ease. I'd prefer that any day."

Is this true? Probably some of the best moments I've ever had in gaming/RPG were in situations like that in Morrowind and expansions. Be out questing, find a huge cave network, all your armor goes to shit, and you're just fighting for your life to get out while discovering all sorts of cool shit.

Might want to get this game then...

11/10/2011 11:48:23 AM

dammit

installing now

>.<

11/10/2011 11:51:04 AM

^^I asked that question. If what I'm interpreting from the response is correct I don't think it is like that. I guess my understanding now is that all the enemies are within a range of levels that is close to your level. So when you are level 4 all the enemies are between levels 2 and 6, when you are level 20 all enemies are between levels 18 and 22.

It's a bummer in some ways but it's better than all enemies being level 4 when you are level 4, all enemies being level 20 when you are level 20, etc.

I'm kind of partial to the way Risen did it (IIRC, it's been a long time). Don't go to that section of the island yet or you will get torn to shreds. Best level and come back later.

11/10/2011 12:04:04 PM